


i'll be home for christmas

by theneverending



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, Christmas, Fluff, Long-Distance Friendship, M/M, One Shot, Pining, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-02-27 00:57:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2672888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theneverending/pseuds/theneverending
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone unexpected shows up at Louis' front door the night before Christmas Eve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i'll be home for christmas

82 days, 1,968 hours, 118,080 minutes, and 7,084,000 seconds had passed since Louis last saw Harry.

Louis had to admit, keeping up with the amount of time since his last visit with Harry was incredibly obsessive, but he was alone, and the only thing he could think about was Harry.

This time last year, Louis wouldn't have been worrying about this type of thing. Harry had always been his best friend's dorky older brother who excelled at math (Louis could never grasp the concepts of math pre-Harry) and far too good to stoop to Louis' level. But when school started up in August, everything had changed. Louis would start going home with Gemma more often, and of course, Harry was their ride home. Everyday, the three of them would pile into the hand me down vehicle that Harry acquired when he turned 16, and that was it: the beginning of Harry and Louis' friendship.

Being friends with both Harry and Gemma was difficult at times. Gemma was happy that her two favorite people had become friends, but then again, she was jealous. Once, Gemma confided in Louis that she felt like she was losing her only close friend to her brother. Louis remembered Gemma's saddened face as she rambled about how she was now the outlier in their friendship, and instead of Gemma staying up late to talk to Louis, she knew it was Harry that was occupying him. Gemma wiped unshed tears from her eyes, spilling her emotions and hoping that this would pull Louis back into their friendship. Louis told her that she's still his best friend, even though him and her brother might be friends too.

Gemma was reassured after their heart to heart, and eventually, Louis started to love them both in _very_ different ways. Louis' friendship with Gemma stayed strictly platonic as usual, and so did his relationship with Harry, but then feelings started to develop.

When Louis was hanging out with Harry alone, a foreign surge of energy pumped through his bloodstream. Louis felt pathetic around Harry sometimes, with shaking hands and a trembling lip, unable to control himself around the older boy. Harry didn't seem too stable either around Louis, stealing glances (Louis pretended not to notice) and looking at him with 'heart eyes' as his mother called it. Louis didn't deny the possibility that they both mutually liked each other, but they were both shy, and time passed, and now Harry was away at University while Louis was a junior in high school.

That's where the relationship stood now: Louis missed Harry, but Louis wasn't sure that Harry was pining as much as he was. Sure, they exchanged phone calls and text messages, but it wasn't the same without Harry there. Louis yearned for Harry's presence, and unfortunately, it was impossible at this point.

But Louis was hopeful, even when it was hard to be.

On the night before Christmas Eve, Louis sat alone in his home, cradling a mug of hot chocolate in his defrosting hands. His family went out for dinner, but Louis opted out, deciding that wallowing alone in his own self misery would do him better than going out and trying to enjoy himself with his family.

Louis would rather be spending his night with Harry.

He had called Gemma earlier that day, asking if Harry had returned home yet, but she informed him that their had been a plane delay and he wouldn't return until after Christmas. This put a damper Louis' mood, and put his confidence of telling Harry that he was in love with him on the back burners.

So Louis distracted himself for as long as he could, flipping between television channels and scrolling through his social media feeds. This was interrupted by a knock on the door, and Louis rolled his eyes, guessing that the annoying neighborhood carolers were probably circling the block for the fourth night in a row.

As Louis approached the door, he didn't hear anything coming from the outside, and he decided that the carolers probably gave themselves the night off. He tried to peak out the window on the side of the door, but whoever had knocked must be standing in the blind spot. Louis sighed, hoping that he wouldn't open the door to an axe murderer or something. That wouldn't be the best thing for his parents to come home to the night before Christmas Eve.

Louis opened the door with caution, preparing for the worst, and what he saw on the other side make him lose his breath.

For all the right reasons, of course.

He was at least an inch taller than the last time Louis had seen him. The boy was slender, even more than before, and his hair was almost touching his shoulders. Louis noted that his clothing was _way_ too scarce for the harsh weather, and that he would have to do as much as possible to warm him up.

"Harry," Louis exhaled, "I thought-"

"Surprise," Harry grinned, shrugging lightly, "She lied. I told her to. I wanted it to be a secret."

Louis' head whirled. Knowing that Harry had put thought into this made his stomach churn, and feel more at ease.

"You got me," Louis smiled, barely being able to function. Harry was standing right in front of him, for the first time in months, with snowflakes in his hair and rosy cheeks from the cold.

"Well, are you going to let me in? I'm freezing my ass off out here," Harry joked, but the chattering of his teeth said otherwise.

Louis mentally face palmed, "Yeah of course, sorry. My brain is a little sidetracked right now." Louis said, stepping out of the way to let Harry inside. Louis couldn't help but notice how Harry towered over him. A couple beats passed of starting and smiling and Louis was suffocating being close to Harry after so long.

"How about I get you something to drink? I still have some hot cocoa left in the on the stove," Louis offered, needing to get away and clear his mind, even if it were only for a few moments.

"Sounds great," Harry replied.

Louis nodded, backing away from Harry and toward his kitchen, "You can, uh, sit and make yourself comfortable. I'll only be a few seconds."

His head was pounding by time he made it to the kitchen. Louis spent all of his time wondering, no, _obsessing_ would be a better word, over his next meeting with Harry. Louis had orchestrated it so carefully that there wouldn't be a plot hole or an excuse for it to fail, but here he was, pouring lukewarm hot chocolate into a mug while Harry Styles sat in his _living room_.

Louis tried to take as long as possible, but all he had to do was pour hot cocoa into a cup, so it didn't take as long as he had hoped. Louis made his way back to Harry, his legs wobbling like jello and his body buzzing from anticipation.

"Here," Louis said, handing the mug over to Harry. Louis sat across from Harry on the arm chair, watching him intently as he took a sip from the mug.

"'t's good, thanks," Harry said, mannerly, putting the mug on the coffee table next to him. "So, what have you been up to since I've been gone? I'm sure there's a lot going on at Hearst High that I've missed."

"The usual, I guess. Drama, fights, _freshmen_. Oh God, the freshmen this year are terrible. Were we that bad when you were a junior?" Louis asked.

Harry smirked, "A couple of them had sense in them. I remember you hated freshmen when you were part of them. I don't blame you either, your class was one of the worst." Harry teased, and from then on, they carried on a really long conversation.

Louis had calmed down as the night went on, the anxiety of reconciling with Harry on such short notice left his body. Louis completely immersed himself into the conversation, and the tiny ball of fire that formed whenever Louis was with Harry had returned to its rightful place.

Two hours had passed before they'd known it, and the grandfather clock in the corner of the room chimed nine. Louis knew his family would be home soon, and he was definitely breaking the 'no one else is allowed inside of the house while we're not here' rule that his parents had been enforcing lately.

Harry glanced at the clock, and said, "Sorry, Louis, but I'm exhausted. I'm going to head home now if that's alright with you, but we can make plans while I'm still here, alright?" Harry assured, getting up off the couch, and Louis' heart panged because he didn't want him to leave again.

"Yeah I understand," Louis replied, rising off of the chair.

Louis followed Harry to the front entrance, and they stood in silence while Harry put on his coat and bent down on one knee to lace up his boots. When he stood back up, Louis swore he saw a twinkle in Harry's eyes.

"Hey, Louis?" Harry asked.

"Yeah?"

Harry pointed directly above the both of them, "You know we're directly under the mistletoe, right?"

Louis followed Harry's finger, and he'd be damned if there wasn't a mistletoe hanging from the ceiling, mocking him, almost.

"Oh, uh. Huh, that's weird." Louis stammered, avoiding eye contact because he was almost certain that his face was the color of the small ribbon that decorated the mistletoe.

"That is weird," Harry commented, beating around the bush, "You do know the rules of the mistletoe, don't you?"

Louis found it hard to answer these question because this night had become too much. First, Harry surprises him at his front porch, they spend a large amount of time reconnecting, and now he's pretty sure Harry is implying that he wants to kiss him under the mistletoe.

This can't be more perfect, and Louis is _living_ it.

"I do," Louis smiles, and licks his lips, "So what are you waiting for?"

Harry grins widely, then he places his fingers under Louis' chin and tilts it up, and oh _God_ , Louis can't believe this is happening. Harry leans down to Louis, and Louis can't wait anymore, so he meets their lips in the middle. The second their lips touch, it's like fireworks. Even though it awkward at first, a clash of teeth and tongues, they get used to each other quick, and the kiss is like magic.

Harry is the first to break the kiss, and he comments, "Okay we're _definitely_ doing that again."

"Okay," Louis says eagerly, but Harry stops him by putting his index finger up to Louis' kiss-swollen lips.

"Nu uh, next time I see you," Harry winks, "I'll see you later, Lou. Take care." Harry grins, opening the door and ducking out into the snow.

Louis watches from the doorway, and the words are on the tip of his tongue. There's so much he wants to tell Harry, and he's so energized that he thinks he might even tell him he's in love with him.

But he doesn't. Instead he says, "Text me when you get back home safe, okay? It's pretty bad out there." Louis calls out, and Harry turns around and gives him a thumbs up.

Louis closes the door behind him, and he's glad that he was hopeful that Harry would be home for Christmas.


End file.
